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Anyone who has been following Standard since the release of Dissension has probably seen, or at least heard of, the new UG decks that made a modest showing at Regionals recently. The deck is being heralded as Critical Mass update and it looks like it will definitely live up to the fame and power of its namesake. Here is the build that I have been using with a lot of success at the local tournaments and FNM’s I have attended the past couple of weeks.

: So much beatdown. This guy will grow pretty easily for the first 4-5 turns if you curve out decently, this guy is a huge problem for any deck because if they can’t control him fast he will just dominate the board.

: This card is just so good. I looked at some builds from Regionals and most of them had him sitting in the sideboard. I completely disagree! This card wins games, it’s like mystic snake but costs 2 less to play.

and Rootkin from getting hit with point removal. The graft is great too since it can pump up Kodama or Keiga.

Cytoplast Rootkin: An amazing come-into-play effect stacked onto a 4/4 body at a ridiculously low casting cost. Another card that can just win games by growing your whole team. Don’t forget his activated ability, which can punish your opponent for letting him through unblocked.

Keiga/Kodama: 2 of the best creatures to come out of the Kamigawa block, they make excellent late game win conditions if for some reason your opponent resolves a Wrath against you. Don’t forget to graft onto Kodama to make him even bigger.

: The counters are what make this deck more than just a beatdown pile. The biggest weakness of all aggro decks is that once a Wrath hits the board, the opponent nets ridiculous card advantage. 10x counters means that Wrath is not going to come down on turn 4 like the control player planned.

Playing the deck:Against control: Ideally you want to drop an early Kudzu

and grow him as fast as possible, dropping a Frogling for added beats and protection. After turn 3 or 4, if your opponent is playing white, it is important to leave mana open for counters at all times to protect your creatures from a Wrath. If your opponent stumbles on land or you are sure he is not packing any board sweep just continue to beat down with your early drops and play any of your creatures with cc4 or higher to win fast. Control decks provide your toughest matchups because if you get a slow start it can be hard to win in the late game once they have a lot of land out.

Against Aggro: Guess what, this match is pretty easy since our creatures are typically of a much higher quality. Frogling is a good defender early, and you can chump with Wood Elves

after they have fetched out a land. Once you drop a Kodama or Keiga it should be game over because they are too big for most aggro builds to handle. Accelerating into your larger creatures is essential here.

Against combo: If you get a Vinelasher down and are holding a lot of counters you will probably win. Heartbeat especially has a tough time trying to combo out when you are holding Voidslime

s. You will definitely want to bring in more counters from the sideboard here to keep them from combo-ing off.

That’s basically the deck in a nutshell. I didn’t really do a comprehensive matchups section since there are so many decks in the format right now. This deck is truly amazing because it has the power to be tier 1 but is also fun to play because you get to smash face with Kudzu